Essay on the hiterpretation of Milk Records. 153 



or less routine character, and does not show any definitely 

 original features. 



Mr. Robinson's survey of the soils and agriculture of Shrop- 

 shire is embodied in a pamphlet of over 100 pages, illustrated by 

 sixteen maps. It includes mechanical and chemical analyses 

 of seventy soils and subsoils, representing all the important 

 geological formations in the county. The work seems to have 

 been done with care and discrimination, and the descriptions of 

 the history, agriculture, stock, geology and soils of the different 

 districts of the county are well written, and show that the 

 writer has made a careful study of the subject. It will be of 

 great use to any one who is concerned with local experimental 

 work, for which it will form a sound scientific basis. Mr. 

 Robinson has evidently based his method of working on 

 Messrs. Hall and Russell's survey of the South-Eastern 

 Counties, and cannot lay claim to any definite originality. 



Mr. Shildrick's essay is an interesting account of the obser- 

 vations he made on the soils and agriculture of the Kharjeh 

 Oasis. It is quite promising, but obviously unfinished. His 

 observations would, no doubt, have been extended if time had 

 permitted. 



Mr. Stokes describes a series of field experiments carried 

 out during the last seven years with the object of investigating 

 the infertility of the soil in the Cars of Nottinghamshire. It is 

 a careful piece of work, but up to the present does not appear 

 to have yielded any very definite conclusions. 



"We had some difficulty in appraising the relative value of 

 the essays of the first three candidates, Messrs. Gavin, Hammond, 

 and Robinson. Our final conclusion is that all three are about 

 equally good as records of accurate work, but that Mr. Gavin's 

 essay has more claims to originality, and we therefore recom- 

 mend that the medal be awarded to him. The Society are to be 

 congratulated on the excellent competition that has marked their 

 offer of a medal, even in the first year. When the scheme 

 is better known, increased competition may be anticipated. 



(Signed) W. SOMERVILLB. 



T. B. Wood. 



December 3, 1912. 



THE INTERPRETATION OF MILK RECORDS. By 

 William Gavin, B.A. (Trinity College, Cambridge). 

 Lord Rayleiglis Dairy Farms, Terling, Essex. 

 The practice of keeping milk records seems at last to be 

 gaining ground throughout the country, and in a few years' 

 time a very considerable amount of material will have 

 accumulated for the study of the dairy cow. The present 



